02 - Iron Kingdoms W.. - Captain Spud Is Amazing

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Steam & Sails
Many sailors have ventured out in a fool’s attempt
to cross Meredius. None have returned, and what
pieces of flotsam come back on the tide are the sole
remains of such adventurous explorers. Being a sailor
on the ever-swirling seas is a task that requires great
skill and perseverance. Caen’s three moons cause
strange happenings in the tides, and a green navigator
who does not plan for the pull of the lunar trio can
find his ship run up on savage rocks that were well
beneath the foam just moments before. With luck most
foul, one could end up sailing off into the unknown
reaches of the seas to be lost in the endless black of the
oceans—a horror many sailors bless themselves against
each night as they bed down until morning. It takes a
great, strong heart to join a ship’s crew, for this one
simple fact rules sailing Meredius above all others: to
brave the mysterious, fathomless depths of the Black is
to face certain death on the open seas.
Only the Orgoth have managed to cross her
when they invaded Immoren centuries past, and she
swallowed them up again once they left these lands.
No sailor of Immoren has managed the same feat.
Ships, cargos, exploratory flotillas, and warships have
all met with the same fate—crushed by the dark,
mountainous waves. No one alive today knows what
lies on the other side, but wild-eyed sailors tell tales of
monstrous creatures and wild natives just as often as
stories about cities of gold filled with untold wealth.
Winds of War
With rising tensions and inCreased aCtivity by Cryxian
raiders, the seas around Western immoren have beCome far
more dangerous of late. Certainly Cygnar, ord, and khador
have all stepped up their naval patrols mainly in an effort
to interCept Cryxian raiders, but piraCy has also inCreased.
raiders from Cryx ply the Waters throughout the broken
Coast, menite galleys raid Cygnaran trade routes and strike
against lone Cygnaran naval vessels, and ordiC freesails and
privateers Challenge pirates and merCarian traders alike.
through it all only one thing remains Constant—the sea of
a thousand souls Continues to feast.
We sailors is probably the only blokes in the whole of the kingdoms gots any respect left for the
Orgoth. Mind ye, they were bloody folk, and devilish… but by Doleth’s salty beard, they could
sail! They managed to do what none of us this side of the Black could. They crossed Meredius.
No steam, no mechstuff, nothing but sails, rope, sweat, and blood—that’s how they braved the
deep. And I’ll wager they haven’t forgotten us. No, I’ll wager they’re just waitin’. Waitin’ to sail
back over that there horizon and show us what-for. A dark day, that’ll be…a dark day indeed.
—Halford Bray (male Ryn Ftr7/Exp5), captain of the steamship Palaxis
Today, the leading concerns of sailors close to the
coast of western Immoren are the politics of man, the
hungry bite of the Dragonfather, and the riches to be
gained by braving the waves. Llael is the only human
nation that does not have some sort of an ocean-going
presence. Three of the kingdoms have longstanding
traditions of maritime activity while the Protectorate
is a relative newcomer. Ord’s sailing tradition harkens
back to a time well before the Occupation to the days
when Tordoran galleys dominated the straits and bays.
While Cygnar and Khador have more resources to
expend in the development of their navies, the older
Ordic ships are still maintained and sailed with a skill
born from centuries of men who know little else but
planks, sails, and rigging.
Cryx is another matter entirely. Toruk’s black claws
extend to all the reaches of the sea, from the warm
waters of the Cygnaran Gulf to the farthest, ice-choked
fjords of the Windless Waste. Piracy abounds and is in
many ways a national industry of Cryx. Stolen goods
fill the markets of Blackwater and Skell, and nations
have been known to pay exorbitant ransoms for the
return of national treasures. The pirates of Cryx, while
all nominally independent, know the value of having
a safe harbor to which to return, and they pay their
tithes accordingly. The influx of coin from both the
tithes and the piracy of the Scharde Islands likely fuels
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